A Tale of Two Castles
by impossible hazelnut
Summary: Amelia Jenkins had always thought of herself as normal. That was until she got the letter. There was no question of whether Amelia would accept. Magic sounded both exiting and useful. And hadn't Amelia's cousin Howell had something to do with magic? HMC and Chrestomanci cross-over with my OC. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Amelia Jenkins had always thought of herself as normal. She had normal brown hair which she wore in a normal pony tail like her normal friends at her normal school in her normal town in Wales. Not normal in a boring way, just normal in a not magical way. With no castles (moving or otherwise), no enchanters and their crazy families, no portals and no other worlds. Just Amelia and her mum and her dad and her older sister Julie. Until that day when it all changed.

That day was a Tuesday and it rained. Amelia, Julie and their parents were sitting around the kitchen table eating breakfast when the post came. Julie went to get it.

"There's a letter for you, Amelia. I wonder what it's about?" Amelia took the envelope from her sister. It was addressed in bright purple ink which looked like it might have been written with an old fashioned dipping pen. Here is what the letter inside said:

**_Dear Miss Amelia Jenkins,_**

**_It has come to my attention that your mother's maiden name was Chant, making you a relative of mine. Therefore, it is likely that you will have a talent for magic, but your world has no access to it. For this reason, I wish you to come and live with me for a few years. You would have a chance to become a witch as well as continuing your ordinary lessons. I will send someone to collect you on the Sunday following your receiving of this letter._**

**_Chrestomanci_**

It took Amelia a few moments to get her head around the letter. Then her parents wanted to know what it said. What none of them could understand was why this Chrestomanci wanted Amelia but not Julie to come and live with him. For he was certainly being truthful. They all knew this, though nobody could say how. There was no question of whether Amelia would accept. Magic sounded both exiting and useful. And hadn't Amelia's cousin Howell had something to do with magic?

The next few days passed in a blur of packing, telling friends completely fabricated stories about aunts and far away islands, and generally preparing. Sunday came all too quickly for Amelia, who was not particularly keen to travel to some distant place to live with her second cousin once removed who would teach her to be a witch. She was sitting by the window in the living room when the taxi arrived. She saw a man get out of it. His coat billowed around him and the sleeves did not seem to be long enough for his arms, nor indeed his trousers for his legs. Amelia heard the doorbell ring and then her mum saying "Yes, she's just through here, Mister…?"

"Saunders, Michael Saunders." said the man, coming into the living room. "Ready to go, Amelia?"

"Yes." Amelia said shortly, getting to her feet and picking up her suitcase. She hugged her parents and sister goodbye and followed Mister Saunders to the taxi. He sat in the front with the driver and she sat in the back.

Amelia woke up the next morning scarcely remembering the previous day. It had passed in a confused blur, but she remembered getting out of the car and walking through a garden and then into a hedge and then feeling dizzy and then getting into an old fashioned car and driving along some long twisty roads through the countryside where the sign posts were in English. It was dark by the time they had got there, so all she had seen was a huge castle looking building before she had collapsed into bed.

She sat up, pushing her dark brown hair out of her face and gazed around her sun filled room. It had large, with red satin curtains embroidered with gold. The walls were pale yellow and the bedspread was the same scarlet as the curtains. There was a wooden wardrobe and dressing table on the other side of the room and a large oriental rug in the middle. Amelia got up and crossed the room to a door which looked as though it might lead to a bathroom. It did. It was red and gold like the bedroom with a claw footed bath on one side. Amelia was starting to like it here.

Amelia came out of the bathroom rapped in a towel and feeling much more awake. She couldn't find her own clothes anywhere, so she looked in the wardrobe. There she found old fashioned clothes like those of the woman who had shown her to her room last night. With nothing else to wear, Amelia dressed in a pale green dress, petticoats, garters and stockings. She felt an old fashioned fool. She tied her hair up in a ponytail just to be at least a bit normal.


	2. Chapter 2

A young woman came in.

"Um…hello, miss Jenkins." She said "I'm Euphemia. And it's time for breakfast. You could have had a bath, but you woke up rather late." Euphemia turned and Amelia followed her out of the room and down quiet, green corridors. At last they reached a room with a table in it. On one side of the table sat a boy and a girl, both small and chubby and plain. On the other side sat a boy of about nine and a girl of a few years older, both with curly blonde hair.

"Hi!" said the younger, blonde boy "You must be Amelia! I'm Cat, this is my…er…sister Janet and my second cousins Roger and Julia." Amelia wondered why he said "my cousins" instead of "our cousins" and why he had hesitated to say that Janet was his sister.

"Hi…" she said, suddenly coming over all shy at these strange, old fashioned, English people that she was apparently related to. She sat down at the table and looked at her plate. It had bread on it.

"Marmalade?" Janet pushed the jar towards her.

"Thanks."

"Tea? Coffee? Cocoa?"

"Coffee please."

After a few minutes of silent eating, Julia spoke up. "Are you a witch? Because I'm a witch and Roger's a warlock and Cat's an enchanter."

"Right. Well, that's why I'm here…I guess…to learn magic, I mean." Amelia said, awkwardly. Luckily, the door opened behind her and broke the tension.

"How nice it is to come in and not find fighting! You don't know how much trouble you've saved us, Janet." Amelia looked round to see a youngish man in a red silk dressing gown which changed to green and blue and purple when light fell on it. "And you must be Amelia!" he said "I'm Chrestomanci! And I presume you've met my children Roger and Julia, and my cousins' children Janet and Cat?"

"Er…yes…I have" she was amazed. She hadn't expected to find any other children here (especially not magic ones) and she had always imagined Chrestomanci as a dark, shadowy figure in billowing robes. This tall, flamboyant man was another matter, and he slightly reminded Amelia of Howell.

"Well, good morning all children!" Chrestomanci swept out of the room in a blur of silk dressing gown.

"You'll probably start magic lessons on this afternoon," remarked Roger "That's when Julia and I learn it."

"What about Cat?" wondered Amelia "I thought you said that he….?"

"Oh, Chrestomanci gives Cat lessons every day, with our friend Marianne. She stays in the village with her parents at the weekend but she'll be coming later." said Janet proudly "Because they're so advanced, _especially _Cat." Cat blushed and became very interested in his marmalade at this.

The door opened a little while later and Mr Saunders came in, announcing that it was time for lessons. Amelia managed to impress him with her maths and even, to her surprise, English. Afterwards, Cat went off for his lesson in magic with Chrestomanci, Roger and Julia stayed for one with Mister Saunders and Amelia and Janet wandered out into the grounds of the castle.

"Miss Jenkins" It was Euphemia, coming up behind them.

"Yes?"

"There's a woman in the small drawing room to see you." When they reached the Small Drawing Room, Amelia discovered that it was not small at all, quite the contrary. The table was spread with a magnificent tea and behind it sat a young woman Amelia had never seen before in her life.

This woman had long reddish gold hair which hung loose over her shoulders. She was wearing a dark green dress the same style as the ones worn here.

"Hello." She said "My name is Sophie and I need to talk to you."

Amelia sat down and took a biscuit. "Why?"

"Because you need my help. But first I should explain" she took a deep breath "Do you, by any chance, know a man called Howell Jenkins?"

"Yes, he's my cousin. Do you know him?"

Sophie gave a weak smile "Well yes, I've been married to him for eight years."

"What? But… I mean, you…? And Howell….? He didn't…? Never….?" Amelia spluttered, staring at her newly discovered cousin in law.

"Yes, he's like that, isn't he?" Sophie looked apologetic.

"Yes." Amelia was calming down now. "So…but…I've seen him since then!"

"Yes, he does randomly go off with no explanation…." Sophie bit into her slice of cherry and walnut cake. "But I'm not here to discuss Howl – sorry, Howell."

"Why did you just call him Howl?"

Sophie sighed "It's a long story…"

"Sorry, what where you saying?"

"Well, to cut a really long story short, Howell is the royal wizard of Ingary which is a country in another world. And he helped concur another country and now that country's rebelling and they have a secret gang of soldiers who have the pleasant job of kidnapping every member of Howl's family. Including you. And if they don't come quietly, the soldiers have permission to kill. Do I make myself plain?"

Amelia said, quietly "Perfectly so."

"Which is why" said Sophie "Howl insisted that you come and live with us."

Amelia had seen this coming. "When?"

"Today. And I'm sorry to just turn up and spring this on you, but I got the feeling that Howl did not want you to be kidnapped."

"That's nice of him." Amelia made an attempt at humour "Where _is _Howell?"

"Oh, working for the king – that man _never _gives him a break!"

"Ok, I'll go…pack….I guess…." She got up and walked to the door.

"Oh, and Amelia," said Sophie "You don't mind small children do you? Sorry about not telling you all this sooner. About me and Morgan and Ellie, I mean."


	3. Chapter 3

Amelia didn't know how she managed to get to her room, but she did. She fell onto her bed and curled up in a ball. It was all too much for her. Her family was magic. Her cousin Howell had a wife and two children. She was in another world. And now she found out that there were people who wanted to kidnap her. She wanted to go back to Wales and put on normal clothes and be normal again.

"Amelia?" It was Cat, sounding anxious "Can we come in?"

It was about twenty minutes later when Euphimia knocked on the door. By that time, Amelia had decided that she was being stupid and selfish as well as gathered together her stuff. Cat and Janet were sitting on the side of her bed.

"Miss Jenkins?" said Euphimia, nervously poking her head round the door.

"Coming." Amelia said resignedly, getting up and walking to the door, dragging behind her the suitcase which had somehow reappeared.

At the end of the driveway stood a wooden arch in the centre of which the air shimmered like a heat haze. When Sophie stepped through it she vanished. Slightly daunted, Amelia followed her. Immediately, she found herself standing in a yard, covered in bits of scrap metal. She followed Sophie up to the smallish house. Amelia recognised the inside as soon as she entered.

"This is Howell's house." She said, before realising how stupid it sounded.

"No, it's Howl's moving castle." This announcement came from a girl of about four with the same reddish hair as Sophie. But when Amelia looked into her eyes she saw that they were the exact same shade of green as Howell's.

"That's Ellie." Said Sophie, distractedly "I'd better make up the spare bed for you…"

The door on the opposite side of the room clattered open and a boy of about seven crashed in, followed by a young man with untidy brown hair who was holding a large armful of tulips.

"Hey, Sophie, you were right – there _were_ tulips!" he said.

"Thanks Michael!" Sophie said, taking the tulips from him and putting them into a bucket of water "This is Amelia, Howl's cousin."

"Hi!" said Michael "I'll go…mind the shop…" he disappeared through the door which Amelia and Sophie had just come through, taking the bucket of tulips with him.

"Mum, can we have some lunch?" asked the boy. His hair was a funny reddish blondish brown and his eyes were a greenish blue. The two children could not have been more obviously the offspring of Howell and Sophie.

The door opened again and another young man came through. Amelia knew this one. He had yellow hair and green eyes and his name was Howell Jenkins.

"Howell." She said quietly and he looked up.

"Amelia!" he ran over and hugged her, spinning her round the small room. She forgot all the things that were on her mind. It was ok. She could survive. She would be fine as long as she had her cousin, her cousin Howell, Howell who she had always felt closer to then her own sister, Howell who was never around, but now she didn't care because now she knew about Sophie. She was limp with happiness, and they were talking in fast Welsh and Morgan was staring at them and trying to work out who she was. Then he stepped away from her and turned to Sophie.

"Did you see Chrestomanci?" he said.

Sophie nodded "I did. He seemed…pleasant." They both grinned at this, but Amelia didn't know why.

The next morning, after spending the night sleeping in a sort of cubby-hole, Ammelia sat eating bacon and eggs with Howell and his family. A knock came at the door.

"Who can it be?" Howell wondered aloud, as he walked over to it.

"It's the Wales door." said an unfamiliar voice. Amelia looked at the fireplace where it was coming from and screamed. The flickering blue face glared back at her.

"That's Calcifer, the fire demon." Explained Sophie. Amelia returned Calcifer's glare as Howell opened the door. A young woman with blonde hair stood there, a tall, dark-haired man behind her. And it was pouring with rain.

"Howell! Thank goodness! Can we come in?" she said in a English accent.

"Polly! Tom! Come in!" They came in gratefully. "This is my cousin Amelia. Amelia, these are my friends Tom and Polly."

"Sorry about this, Howell." Said Tom "We were…walking…in the area and it started raining so we thought we'd drop by."

Amelia wanted nothing more than to escape, but she was forced to sit and drink tea and eat bacon, watching Ellie pushing a wooden train across the floorboards making quiet "choo choo" noises.

Another knock came at the door, almost as soon as Tom and Polly had left. When Sophie opened it, she saw four children who Amelia was very glad to see.

"Can we come in?" said Julia Chant.

"Yes, of course!" said Sophie and they crowded into the small room, steaming gently.

"Um." said Janet "We came to see Amelia.

"Why?" asked Amelia.

"Do you like cricket?" said Roger.

"Er…yes, I love it." She said.

"Well good." Said Cat "because the Castle are playing in the village tournament and we don't have enough people!"

"Can I come?" said Ellie, looking up. Sophie sighed.


	4. Chapter 4

Back at Chrestomanci Castle again, it was just as quiet as ever.

"It's awfully quiet here!" remarked Sophie.

"Yes, it's a spell or something." Said Cat "Let's find Klartch and have a game of Klartch-ball!" Klartch turned out to be a strange creature half-bird half-lion, or something. A young griffin, explained Janet. Klartch-ball was a fun game which mainly involved running, shouting and kicking the ball, a bit like football only with a griffin. Obviously, Klartch was the best at it. Ellie ran around getting in the way and Morgan yelled his head off.

The game culminated in a tussle when Morgan managed to trip over Klartch and wrestle his sister to the ground at once.

"Mummy!" yelled Ellie.

Sophie sighed. "Morgan, stop being mean to your sister!"

"I wasn't!" protested Morgan, looking round for somebody to blame "It was Amelia!"

"Sure it was…" said Sophie "Come over here!" She produced a hairbrush from her handbag and attempted to use it on Morgan's wild blonde-brown hair. Cat, being the sweet boy he was, helped Ellie to her feet.

"Thank you!" she said, smiling up at Cat.

"Ellie," said Sophie, while Morgan struggled against her firm grip "say 'thank you'!"

"I _did!" _protested Ellie.

"Mum! Let _go!" _yelled Morgan.

"I think," said Roger, examining his wrist watch "that it's almost time for the cricket match."

"Yay!" said Morgan. His mother sighed and grabbed Ellie, attempting to put her reddish hair into order. Morgan attempted to run back to the castle, but managed to charge into a rose bush in the process. He lay yelling and kicking, but making no effort to get back to his feet. In the end, Janet had to yank him out by the back of his shirt.

"Morgan!" said Sophie, exasperated "Your knees are muddy! Oh, and you've ripped your shirt! And your hair's a mess. Come here!" She grabbed him and tried to get his hair neat again.

Ellie giggled. "He's being naughty, isn't he?" she said to Amelia.

Amelia grinned down at the little girl "Yeah, he is."

"Am _not!" _protested Morgan, squirming away from his mother.

"We need to _go_" pointed out Janet, reminding everybody of the cricket match.

"Let's!" agreed Cat.

"Yay!" said Ellie.

"Yeah!" yelled Morgan, For no apparent reason. Chrestomanci stood, cricket bat poised to hit the ball. The bowler, somebody from the village, threw the ball and Amelia froze where she stood, watching. Chrestomanci's bat came up, seemingly in slow motion, and connected with the ball, which flew across the field.

"_Run_!" yelled the rest of the Castle team, and Chrestomanci and an old lady in white lace mittens ran. Back and forth, back and forth. The lady, Miss Rosalie, was certainly not the sort of person you'd think to be good at cricket, but she was.

"_Stop_!" yelled everyone about three seconds after the batters had stopped. The ball was thrown. The ball was caught. The ball was bowled. Miss Rosalie swung the bat and _thwacked _the ball across the pitch.

Amelia moved over to the table of snacks, and helped herself to a miniature triangular cucumber sandwich on fluffy white bread. She sat down near Ellie and Morgan, and Cat came over to them too, holding a cupcake.

He sat next to Ellie, smiling at her, and offered her the red cherry from the top of his cake. At this moment the air was filled with shouts and "oh, _Christopher_!" s.

"Hey!" protested Chrestomanci "I did better than anyone so far!"

* * *

**_I'm so sorry I haven't updated either of these stories in so long! (having said that, I'm sure how many people actually check them, or whether all my views are from one person each...) Anywayz, hope it was ok!_**

**_Izzy_**


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